WHY SHOULD YOU CHOOSE WOLF CREEK ACADEMY
Wolf Creek Academy is where families with troubled teenagers turn for help — it is where teens are intentionally molded into better and more confident individuals, day in and day out. We focus on behavioral therapy and character-building, but also on academics. These are the stepping stones to a better future. Our team makes this happen by building a relationship with each student and their family. We work with each student as an individual and extend our arms around the family throughout the process.
When dealing with a troubled teen in your home, you have many factors to consider. How is he or she affecting the other siblings in the home? What is the effect on the family as a whole? Is there a willingness for them to participate in counseling with the family, and is it working? Are they showing any signs of really trying to change or, at least, expressing a need for change?
Hundreds of families have concluded that keeping their teen at home, even for a few more months, may prove to be detrimental or have irreversible effects on the other siblings—a risk they were not willing to take. Therefore, they would begin the arduous research process to find the best program equipped to meet their child’s needs.
At first, at the very thought of sending their child away, they may be flooded with feelings of guilt. They would spend sleepless nights and long days at work, doing their best to remain focused on their daily tasks while being consumed with finding a solution to help their child and, ultimately, the whole family.
Once the decision is made to seek an appropriate program for your child, you may begin to be flooded with many doubts such as:
- How can I send my own child away?
- I am his/her parent; God gave this child to me to raise!
- How can I trust someone else to do my job?
- If I do this, I am affirming that I am giving up on him/her?
- He/She may never forgive me or choose to speak to me again.
- What if he/she runs away?
The list can go on and on……….At this point, you have to ask yourself a few questions:
- How is it working now with your child at home?
- Do I look forward to seeing him/her walk in the door, believing that we will have a great evening of family time?
- Do I find myself walking on eggshells around him/her and not wanting to rock the boat by bringing up issues that need to be discussed—–like who are your friends, and what are you doing while spending so much time away from home?
- When was the last time that I really had a good night of sleep and rested, feeling that all were safe in my nest?
- Can I trust my child in our home alone?
- Can I trust him/her to leave her alone with siblings?
- Does our family feel safe with the teen in the home with us?
- Can we sleep in our bedroom with the door unlocked without fear of our teen coming in while we are sleeping and go through our things, wallet, purse, medicine cabinet, etc.?
- Do other siblings/mate or partner feel neglected because of the amount of time required to deal with or address the teenager’s issues on an ongoing basis?
- Am I confident that the next step for her may not be a legal issue or hospital confinement, and am I prepared for that?
If you are comfortable with the answers you honestly gave yourself, then continue working through things in the home with family counseling and individual psychotherapy, and an adequate evaluation for your child. Proper diagnosis, possible medication, and a team approach with the whole family may be the answer for your child at this point.
However, if you are not comfortable with your answers to these questions that you honestly gave yourself, then put a stop to the flood of negative thoughts that are preventing you from moving forward with seeking help for your child and family through residential treatment. Be careful involving too many people in this process, especially when consulting grandparents or close family members who honestly cannot see Sally as anything but a perfect little princess. Understand that your child’s true character comes out in your home with his immediate family and not necessarily when he is with others. Kids have the ability to mask their true colors for a period of time, and you cannot expect some people to understand or agree with you in this decision. It may be a lonely time for you as you move through the whole process, but seek a support system that reinforces your decision and then take one step at a time. Seek out God’s direction, and trust Him to lead you through it. You will soon be glad that you did.
Grandparents do seem to have a more difficult time acknowledging that their precious grandchild would have any issues that couldn’t just be fixed with the right consequences at home, sometimes a swift kick (not recommended), or just letting them alone to figure it out on their own with the belief that they will get through it as thousands before them have. The Old School way just doesn’t cut it in this generation of kids who have had to learn to survive in a society that is so far from anything that we Baby Boomers have ever known!
Education for the whole family is a must. It should be included in the treatment plan for a successful transformation of your child—-even if it leads to residential boarding school for a period of time in his/her life. Your child deserves the best, and so do you.
When You Need Help with a Teenager
If things should become increasingly difficult to continue a normal family life, you may need to consider whether the adolescent may need more care than what can be provided in the home. Many parents seeking help for their child often wait until things have become so difficult that the family has split, and they even fear for their own safety and the safety of the other children in the household. Some wait until the teen does something illegal or violent to another person, and then it is too late. In those situations, they find themselves possibly making hasty decisions that may not be the best for the adolescent or the family in the long run. When serious defiance surfaces in a teen and counseling do not help, a full-time therapeutic environment may be necessary for the child’s future. If you find that you are at your wit’s end and are doing all that you know to do and need help, seek residential treatment for your child before he or she ends up in serious trouble.
Wolf Creek is a therapeutic boarding school that works with defiant teenagers, boys, and girls aged 13 to 17. For over 30 years, our highly trained professional counselors have provided behavior therapy, including anger management, oppositional defiance disorder (ODD), and respect for authority.
We can help your teen with Oppositional Defiance Disorder. We have a limited number of placements available for teens with ODD and other defiance and anger issues. Call or email us for more information today!
Call Us Toll Free: (877)477-9653
Email: info@wolfcreekacademy.org
